The afternoon phone call jolted Laird Jackson: Her 82-year-old father had just been evicted from the Huntington Beach board-and-care home where he had lived for several years. "I couldn't believe it," she said. "There was no notice until a marshal showed up at the door with a foreclosure notice. " Jackson's experience in January, unfortunately, is becoming commonplace in California, with incidents reported at board-and-care homes in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Contra Costa, Alameda, San Mateo, Napa, Yolo and Placer counties.

Arie Shashou remembers simple pleasures from the decades spent in his Westside home: helping neighbors with small tasks; the daily chats with the former manager of the complex; the paintings that line the walls of his one-bedroom. "It was a happy time," Shashou, 77, recalled on a recent Sunday afternoon. "I was hoping to die here. " That was before Shashou received an eviction notice in March. Shashou's $825-a-month rent-controlled apartment, and 17 other units, will be demolished to make way for a pricey new apartment complex.

A San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy was shot and wounded as he served an eviction notice in San Bernardino on Tuesday morning, officials said. The deputy was serving an eviction notice in the 1400 block of Date Street at 10:11 a.m. when an unknown shooter opened fire on the officer, said Cindy Bachman, a sheriff's spokeswoman. The deputy was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital. Bachman said initial reports indicated that he should survive. The deputy was not identified. Bachman said at this stage she does not know what happened to the shooter or whether the deputy was able to discharge his weapon before or after being shot.

Fredda Weiss used to tell people visiting her Mandeville Canyon cottage for the first time to watch for the house "that looks like the seven dwarfs live there. " Weiss' 1950s home was warm and inviting - but also a little dark and dated. So after three decades of living in the 2,283-square-foot cottage, Weiss decided to give her storybook home a happy ending. And she had just the architect in mind: Zoltan Pali. "If I was going to do this house, he was going to be my architect," Weiss says.

I can't tell you what a terrible disappointment I felt in reading David Reyes' article regarding the attempt to evict John Rogers (March 28). The actions of the landlord, Wycliffe Bible Translators, are indefensible. As a Jewish-Christian, I feel embarrassed and ashamed that a "Christian" organization would ever undertake such actions, especially under this present set of circumstances. Here we have a serviceman, with two young, impressionable children, being shown how some people express Christian tolerance and love.

JERUSALEM-- Facing a court deadline Thursday, Jewish settlers from the West Bank outpost of Amona have begun tearing up an access road that leads to illegally constructed homes. According to Israeli media, residents opted to destroy the road themselves and evict a mobile home to avoid a high-profile encounter with large police and army forces prepared to enforce a high court order. This token eviction is part of an ongoing legal saga in a case that is far from over. Amona was established without explicit government authorization in 1995 and is built largely on privately owned Palestinian land.

Los Angeles County residents saved a shooting victim from eviction this week. Rashaun Williams, 29, a home health aide and crossing guard, has been out of work since she was shot in both legs July 11 on Imperial Highway in South Los Angeles, caught in gang crossfire while visiting relatives. "It changed my life. It just changed everything completely," the single mother said. "I haven't been able to provide for my daughter like I want to." The Times reported Williams' story in August.

A jobless man shot and killed two people who were trying to evict him Tuesday, then turned his shotgun on himself and committed suicide, police said. Charles Whitehouse, in his 60s, had been depressed over the breakup of his marriage and his wife's gaining a court order for possession of the house, neighbors said.

Code enforcement officer Jim Van Voorhis, with perhaps a very comfortable home and a good salary with all the associated benefits, has decided that a lot of people must be added to those already living in their cars or on the street ("Eviction Looms for Poor Families," Aug. 23). Maybe it hasn't occurred to Van Voorhis and those like him that the people are there because they can't find a better place to go. At the very least, if they must be forced to leave, it should be for a better, safer place.

Gardena residents who deal drugs in rented apartments or houses may be evicted by their landlords under an urgency ordinance passed Tuesday by the City Council. Following the lead of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, which passed a similar ordinance in March, 1989, the council voted 4 to 0 in favor of the measure. Councilman Paul Tsukahara was absent. The Gardena ordinance, which is effective immediately, permits landlords to evict tenants for selling drugs on property owned by the landlord.

SOCHI, Russia - Half a mile away, thousands of people waved flags, held balloons and cheered Thursday as the Olympic torch passed by. Nina Toromonyan stood in the gray rubble that remains of her home and cried. She recalled her elation in 2007 when her city was selected to host this year's Olympic Winter Games. She imagined that wonderful things were coming. She didn't think that riot police would throw 13 family members out of their three-story home to make way for a new highway two miles away.

SAN FRANCISCO - The push to slow tenant displacements in a red-hot real estate market took on new urgency here last week, as Mayor Ed Lee announced that he has teamed with state legislators to push for changes to the California law powering the evictions. On Thursday, hundreds packed an afternoon Board of Supervisors hearing as longtime residents told of being pressed to move out of rent-controlled units by speculators who had bought their buildings - in many cases with the intent to flip them for sale to higher-income buyers.

“Hogwash!” was the cry when Neil, Sierra Madre's pot-bellied pig, got cited for being overweight. Specifically, an animal control officer labeled him a hog, which is illegal to possess in the tiny town northeast of Pasadena. The officer had been sent to the Montecito Avenue neighborhood where the 17-year-old pig lives to investigate reports of a noisy rooster, which is also illegal in Sierra Madre. When she looked over the picket fence next door, past the mailbox painted with a fanciful pig's head, she noticed Neil in the yard.

"Hogwash!" was the cry when Neil, Sierra Madre's beloved pot-bellied pig, was cited for being overweight. Specifically, an animal control officer labeled him a hog, which is illegal to possess in the town northeast of Pasadena. The officer had actually been sent to the Montecito Avenue neighborhood to investigate reports of a noisy rooster, which is also illegal in Sierra Madre. But when she looked over the picket fence into the yard next door, past the mailbox painted with a fanciful pig's head, she noticed Neil rooting around in the dirt.

JERUSALEM--The eviction of a tiny Palestinian community has sparked a sharp dispute between Israel and the European Union that is threatening to become a diplomatic crisis over allegations of abusing a French diplomat. Last week, Israeli authorities demolished the homes and structures of Khirbet Makhoul, a Palestinian community of around 20 families in the northern Jordan Valley after a legal ruling determined they were built without permits. A few days later, a group of activists and European diplomats arrived at the ruined site.

"Big Brother" contestant Aaryn Gries, whose racial and homophobic slurs have sparked a firestorm - and high ratings - for the CBS reality show, has at least one ally - her mother. Just days after Gries was evicted from the "Big Brother" house, Elizabeth Owens is speaking out in a statement to The Times, chastising her daughter but declaring that the remarks are not reflective of Gries' upbringing or her true character. "While I love and continue to support my daughter Aaryn, words cannot describe my disappointment in some of her comments made on 'Big Brother,'" Owens wrote.

On one hand, Claremont has evolved into the quintessential college town--one of the few genuine places in Southern California. But places are made real by people, their culture and history. The seeming willingness of Claremont's City Council to disregard an entire neighborhood, in favor of a single landholder, smacks of an especially blatant callousness. The Arbol Verde neighborhood's destabilization by Claremont McKenna College's new rental policy--which evicts longtime residents in favor of a transient replacement contingent--is disturbing enough, but the fact that the City Council (to the dismay of the Planning Commission)

Seven years ago my young son suffered a massive head injury in a terrible accident. He came home, after months in the hospital, completely unresponsive and totally paralyzed. What followed was a journey of depression, despair and grief. We didn't know how to help him or where to turn. After missteps, we were referred to the Intervention Center for Early Childhood. I still look at the months spent there as some of the most helpful and positive of all the interventions we have tried. In the Aug. 12 article regarding the Mariners South Coast Church's eviction of ICEC, Senior Associate Pastor Gary Edmonds said, "As a church, we believe that our primary purpose is to be a place that will provide for the needs of people worshiping God and growing in their relationship to God."

Aaryn Gries, who made racial and anti-gay slurs against fellow houseguests, was evicted from the "Big Brother" house Thursday night and was grilled by host Julie Chen . According to early numbers from Nielsen, which are likely to change because of NFL pre-season preemptions that affected much of the country, the live eviction episode on CBS drew 8.36 million viewers and garnered a rating of 2.6 in the key 18-49 demographic. If the numbers...

JERUSALEM-- Facing a court deadline Thursday, Jewish settlers from the West Bank outpost of Amona have begun tearing up an access road that leads to illegally constructed homes. According to Israeli media, residents opted to destroy the road themselves and evict a mobile home to avoid a high-profile encounter with large police and army forces prepared to enforce a high court order. This token eviction is part of an ongoing legal saga in a case that is far from over. Amona was established without explicit government authorization in 1995 and is built largely on privately owned Palestinian land.